The Percentage Of Obese People In The United States

Obesity increases your risk for chronic health problems such as heart disease, high blood pressure, type 2 diabetes and some types of cancer. Treatment and prevention of weight problems has become a common topic among health care professionals due to the prevalence of obesity in the United States.

Percentage of Obese Adults

About 33.8 of adults are obese; 35.5 percent of women and 32.2 percent of men fit into this category, according to "Prevalence and Trends in Obesity Among U.S. Adults, 1999-2008." Of these adults, about 5.7 percent fit into the extremely obese category. An adult is in the obese category if his body mass index, or BMI, is at or above 30. He is in the extremely obese category if his BMI is over 40. You can calculate your own BMI by dividing your weight in pounds by your inches of height squared and multiplying the outcome by 703.

Percentage of Obese Children and Teens

Children's weights are variable based on factors such as age, sex and growth rate. As a result, doctors plot children's BMIs onto growth charts for children of the same age and sex rather than depending on a single number for weight assessment. A child with a BMI at or above the 95th percentile for children in the same sex and age category is considered obese. Approximately 17 percent of children and teens between ages 2 and 19 are considered obese, according to results from the 2007 to 2008 National Health and Nutrition Examination Survey.

Increases Over the Years

People of both sexes and all ages, races, backgrounds, educational levels and smoking levels have seen increasing obesity rates. Adults between ages 20 and 74 have had an increased obesity rate of 13.4 in 1960 to 1962 to about 35.1 in 2005 to 2006, according to the 2005 to 2006 National Health and Nutrition Examination Survey. In preschool-aged children, obesity rates increased from 5 percent in 1976 to 1980 to 10.4 percent in the years 2007 to 2008. Elementary school-aged children saw an increase of 6.5 percent to 19.6 percent and teens from ages 12 to 19 saw an increase of 5 percent to 18.1 percent during the same time period.

Other Trends

Black and Hispanic women are more likely to be obese than Caucasian women. Their obesity rates are 49.6, 43 and 33 percent, respectively. Moreover, more Hispanic boys and black girls are obese than Caucasian children. Additionally, the obesity rate is higher than 30 percent in both sexes of most age groups, but men in the age range 20 to 39 don't match the trend, according to "USA Today." However, some of the boys who fit into the heaviest weight categories may be getting heavier.

Projected Percentage

The obesity epidemic in the United States may be leveling off at a rate of about one-third of adults, as the percentage of obese adults hasn't increased dramatically from the years 2000 to 2010, according to "USA Today." However, Harvard University researchers believe that America's obesity epidemic is unlikely to level off until approximately 42 percent of adults are obese in the early 2050s.